The Story Collector
by filkcatwearingabell
Summary: Nudge leaves the Flock and decides to head over to England. Whilst hiding in a tree, a local girl asks her to tell her story. Can this girl help Nudge's story have a happy ending? couple of OCs and slight Niggy towards the end.
1. Lone Birdy

**this is my first ever fanfic so i hope you enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: i do not own Maximum Ride**

**~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/  
**

**Lone Birdy**

**Nudge POV**

I landed on the branch of a tree. I had left the flock a week ago and, for some reason, had a strong desire to go to England. Only once I got there did I realise I had nothing to do.

I looked down from my perch, at the house I had landed by. In the garden there was a girl about my age, maybe younger, sitting in one of those office twirly chairs. She had deep brown hair like my own, only hers looked dull and lifeless. Her skin was extremely pale and her cheeks seemed to be missing the healthy glow I thought all people had. I started to wonder if she had some incurable illness.

Now she spun around in the chair so that she was facing what had previously been behind her. Slowly she swayed and, as I listened more carefully, I heard trickling water, presumably from a nearby stream. Still swaying, the Girl leaned back in the chair and looked up at the crystal blue sky I had flown in just moments before. Her eyes followed two swallows flying side by side. My heart tugged as I followed their path from my branch. It brought back memories of flying with the Flock, the flock I would never fly with again.

Once the two birds were out of sight, she continued to gaze at the sky until her eyes locked onto something else. This time it was a lone swallow. A small, sad smile appeared on her face. I didn't understand why she was sad. If I had all of that around me, I would be overjoyed! And that was when I started to realize I was jealous.

The Girl started to look through the trees, but I was too busy wrapped in my own envy to notice. It was only when a squirrel became agitated by her constant looking that I remembered that I was counting on the trees to hide from anyone looking for me. Anyone looking from the air may not have see me, but if the Girl didn't stop I was going to have a lot of explaining to do. I quickly started to move into the shadows but was too late. She stared directly at me.

She had blue-grey eyes. As they stared into mine, I noticed how they looked incredibly old yet ageless if that even makes sense. The more I looked into those eyes the more I wanted to tell the Girl my whole life, my every dream and my every desire, knowing that she would listen no matter what.

But Max had taught me well, before she became so depressed that is. I didn't know the Girl, so I couldn't trust her. Even if I could trust her, there was nothing to say I could trust her parents or anyone she knew. If I went down there it could be the beginning of hell as I knew it.

On the other hand that's what Max would say. She would say that to protect the Flock from forces like Itex. Itex was only after the Flock and, as of last week, I was no longer part of the Flock. The other reason that would make me go down there was that I so desperately wanted to talk to someone else. For days, the only people I had spoken to were the cashiers at various fast food places. Talking to yourself when you're flying isn't as good as talking to, lets say, Iggy when you're flying.

Then I started to wonder about what the Flock was doing right then. Were they running around like headless chickens (no pun intended)? Or were they kicking back and returning to their already messed up lives? Had Angel tried to take over the Flock yet again? Was Max still depressed over Fang leaving? Had Iggy and Gazzy blown up anything else since I had left? Was Fang back after his 'ever so important mission' had failed? Did any of them care that I had gone.

My chain of thought was broken when the Girl, who was still starring at me, smiled. Then she mouthed four words. Four words that made me excited and yet timid. Four words that have now changed my life. Four words.

"Tell me your story."

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

**like I said this is my first fanfic so please R&R. There's going to be four chapters so I hope you read them.**

**x**

**filkcatwearingabell  
**


	2. Story Telling

**Story Telling**

I half-flew, half-jumped off of the branch and walked down the path towards her. As I neared, she hopped off the chair and offered it to me. I took it, pulling my knees up, into my chest. I know that by sitting that way I was open to attacks but, what with one thing and another, I just couldn't care less anymore.

The Girl sat down, crossed legged, on the path in front of me. She opened her mouth as if to ask something - maybe about the wings - but then decided against it. Instead she just sat silently and stared.

"If you're hungry there's some food in my bag beside you." She said eventually. I reached down and picked up a green tote bag. I groped around inside until my hands grabbed a bottle and a small packet of something. I took them out and looked at looked at the bottle of coke and Cadbury chocolate bar now in my hand. Without properly thinking I ripped open the chocolate and gulped it down in three mouthfuls. Than I drank half the bottle of coke before I remembered the Girl was watching me.

"You, uh, didn't want any of this, did you?"

She smiled "No thanks, I'm fine." She was really starting to bother me. How could she always keep smiling? A random girl, sitting in a tree and staring at her. What's she do - smile. The same random girl has wings and what does she do - smile. Said girl is eating all her food like a food-deprived pig and, you guessed it, she smiled! How could someone just smile continuously at a freak of nature like me? I certainly wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't grown up this way.

"Are you ready to tell me your story yet?" The Girl asked

"What if I don't want to tell you"

The Girl pondered what I said for a moment before replying. "You can go if you want. There's a packet of crisps still in my bag if you want them."

I tugged on my hair, thinking through my options. On one side there was an opportunity to have a shoulder to cry on, to explain all my problems to. Or I could run away as fast as I possibly could with the bag of crisps. She didn't know my name and I could cut my hair and dye it. Max would want me to go with the second option - get out of there.

"Would I be aloud the chips - I mean, crisps if I stayed?" The Girl nodded. I got out the crisps and opened them, popping one in my mouth.

"Hi, my name's Nudge."

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

I told the Girl all about myself. About how I was taken away from my mother just days old. I told her about the experiments, the school and our escape. She listened intently, never interrupting, just smiling.

Then I told her about the rest of the flock. I told her about how Max was like my big sister, that Fang had left, how Gazzy and Iggy were always blowing stuff up and that Angel always wanted to become the leader even though she was just seven. I even told her about Total, our walking, talking, flying Scottie.

I kept on talking until she raised her hand, like how a pupil does when they want the teacher to pick them. "I know all about your family now, and I know you really love them all. But if you love them, why did you leave?"

The question was simple enough. The only problem was that I couldn't answer. I couldn't answer because I just didn't have an answer. But, if I didn't know why I left, why did I leave? The question continued to run through the forefront of my mind until the Girl said it didn't matter and asked if I could continue my story. Even though I did continue, the question lingered in the back of my mind.

I continued telling my story. I would go into channel Nudge mode, talking about almost every thing I could think of, and she would ask the occasional question when I paused for breath.

It was about four o'clock when I finally finished. She stood up and explained she had to leave. It was then I noticed I still didn't know her name.

"What's your name?" I blurted out. She looked down at me in the chair. Now she was stood up I could appreciate that she wasn't that much smaller than me. Her face lit up into a beaming smile, the biggest she had given me that day.

"My name is Chloe Williams." She stopped and pondered something for a moment. "If you need a place to stay there are notices in the library that may help." She pointed in a direction behind me. I turned and looked at where she had pointed but, when I turned back to thank her for everything, she had already gone.

/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

**I'd like to thank anyone who bothered to read this. It would really mean a lot to me if i could have some constructive reviews (or any reviews for that matter) so please hit the button below.**

**x**

**filkcatwearingabell**

**v**

**v**

**v**


	3. Library

**YAY! I finally got a review off of you lovely readers**. **Thank you all very muchly. now on to chapter three!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. If I did Nudge would get a bigger part**.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

**Library**

I had decided to walk to the library and it was already a quarter to five by the time I got there. Just like Chloe had said, there was a notice board. On it was three different notices for lodgings. The best were lodgings of three pounds a night, including meals. It would have been great, if I had any English money.

I ended up going in the library as I had nowhere else to go. The first things I saw were the computers. I sat at a free one and looked blankly at the 'instructions' on how to make the computer work. I continued to stare at them for the next five minutes. Sure, I could have used my powers to get in, but there was always the chance - I mean risk that the Flock could use my power over computers to track me.

I was just reaching for the mouse when someone came up behind. The idea of attack was urging me to send a punch into their stomach but remembering I was meant to be incognito stopped me. Instead I waited to find out what they wanted.

"Do you need any help with that?" It was a woman asking. She had a slight American accent but she didn't sound hostile or anything. Turning to see her, I took in her image. She was about 5'3, but looked slightly taller due to her high heels. She wore a dark blue skirt and a cute grey turtle-necked jumper. Her dark, frizzy hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes were a sparkly black colour. What really surprised me the most was her skin colour. It was the exact same shade of mocha as mine. She looked so much like how I expected to look in fifteen years time.

"Um, how do you, like, start it up? I just don't get any of these instructions and I don't come from round here. Normally I take my laptop with me everywhere but I forgot it. Now I need to check something but I can't get the thing to start so please could you help?" I mentally slapped myself. All I needed to say was "how do you turn it on?" And instead I give her a story that would make anyone suspicious.

Expecting to be kicked out, I was surprised when the woman leaned over, typed in some passwords and told me I could use the computer now. She gave me a quick smile and went to stack some books.

There was a button on the keyboard to call up an Internet browser so I jammed my finger into it. It took almost five minutes for the page to load, but when it did I clicked on a link to a search engine. Once that had loaded I typed in 'Chloe Williams' and hit enter. I quickly realised I wasn't going to find who I was looking for in the next couple of minutes. I waved to the Librarian who had helped me earlier. She came over and asked what was wrong.

"What's the name of this town?" I quickly explained that I needed it for my search, but I didn't escape the puzzled looks she gave me. The Librarian looked over my shoulder at my screen. Her mouth formed the name in the search box several times.

"We have some information on this person in the staff room if you wanted to look at it? She used to come here almost every day. But she's stopped now." Sadness crept into her voice as she spoke. I gave her quick nod and her beautiful smile was back on her face. She turned off my computer and I followed her to what must have been the staff room. I sat at the table in the centre of the room and the Librarian offered me some tea and biscuits. Even though it hadn't been long since I had last eaten, I still accepted the offer. When the tea was done, the Librarian sat down and handed me one mug whilst she kept the others. I blew on mine before taking a sip.

"You do know about Chloe, don't you?" She asked, her voice full of sympathy.

"What about her?"

The Librarian absentmindedly stirred her tea. She seamed to be contemplating how to say something. Finally she sighed. "You do know that Chloe Williams died last year."

I was speechless. Properly, utterly speechless so many questions ran through my head but all I could do was open and close my mouth like a helpless fish. At last I recovered my wits.

"She _can't_ be dead! I spoke to her about an hour ago!" I practically shouted. She gave me one of those looks that say 'you belong in a mental asylum'. I mentally slapped my forehead again. If Chloe really was dead, how mad must I be to say I had seen her after her death.

I asked what the Librarian meant when she said she was dead. The Librarian sighed again. "She was hit by a car as she left the library to go to the doctor's surgery a few roads away. She was going to pick up some medicine for her mother. Now what do you mean by you've seen her today?"

I told her about what had previously happened that day. I told her about how I met Chloe (minus the tree) and about the conversations we had (minus the bit about the wings). I told her all I could reveal without making her panic and it was during that talk I realised that I knew next to nothing about Chloe. I decided I would ask the Librarian.

"What was Chloe like? I never got the chance to ask."

"What you need to know, Nudge, is that she was a great person even through all of her hardships." She went on to explain that Chloe's father had left when she was about seven. Her mom had turned to drinking and her older sister was always with different boy and staying round her friend's houses. Chloe was just left to sit in the library for hours until her mom, or Ms Taylor (the Librarian) took her home. She was bullied for years but continued to smile all the time, never letting any of it get her down. She would talk to other people with problems in their lives and ask them to tell her their story. She'd even go listen to the stories of her bullies. Quickly, Chloe gained the nickname 'The Story Collector' and even though the bullies she had helped stopped, she was still bullied.

"I would let her stay round my house when her mother locked her out before she went drinking. In a way she was the daughter I lost thirteen years ago." Ms Taylor said.

I picked up a biscuit. "What happened to your daughter?"

She sighed deeply, "Thirteen years ago I fell pregnant. I was only eighteen. When the baby was born I named her and gave her away to some people who could look after her better than I could at the time."

I looked up from my now cold tea. It wasn't me who made me look up. It was as if someone else had told me to look up, if you get what I mean. I glanced behind Ms Taylor and saw who.

Chloe stood behind with a smile on her face. She was wearing different clothes than earlier. Now she wore a dark green jacket with its hood up, black jeans and a black heart shaped stone at the end of a necklace. Her dark brown hair was in bunches that slipped out of her hood. Red-brown patches covered her jacket. It was blood.

She moved and stood directly behind Ms Taylor then she leaned down and whispered in her ear. Ms Taylor sat up and looked behind her. Just as quickly she crossed her arms and laid her forehead on them in a defeated manner.

She couldn't see Chloe.

Chloe frowned and whispered something else in her ear. Ms Taylor muttered something I couldn't hear, then looked directly at me.

"Nudge, what are your parents like?" Ms Taylor asked. I blushed, lucky that it was hard to tell with my skin colour. I really did want to tell her because she seemed so spooked by what Chloe had said, but I didn't want her to tell the police I was in England all alone. In the end it was the desperate look in her eyes that made me tell her the truth.

"I don't know who my parents are, or anything about them except that my mom lives in Arizona. I was given to some scientific school when I was a few days old. I grew up there, being looked after by the scientists, until I...left with some others to go to another school. Please, please, don't tell the police. I know I shouldn't be here alone but I really had to go. I'll be going back soon so please don't tell." I ended up begging, despite my best efforts.

Ms Taylor continued to stare, "Did you say your mom lived in Arizona?" I nodded. She stood up quickly, knocking down her chair, ran around the table and slammed herself into me. Her arms wrapped around me protectively and I saw Chloe beam me a smile.

"Oh Monique, I'm so sorry I left you all those years ago." She breathed in my ear.

Several thoughts and possibilities ran through my mind, but all of them came back to one thing; she knew my real name. I was so desperate, so desperate to believe that I could only say one thing. "Mom?" Ms Taylor wrapped her around me more.

Ms Taylor, who looked so much like me, behaved so similary to me and could talk for so long without needing to stop for breath. Ms Taylor was my mother. And I was never going to let her go.

We stayed like that for a while, muttering how much we loved each other and how much we were sorry. Suddenly my wings twitched and I knew she felt it. Realisation hit, if we were going to stay together she needed to know about my wings. I had to show her now and if she loved me as much as she said she did, she wouldn't run, right?

"Mom I've got to show you something. I know you thought that school was a good idea but they...did things to me. Experiments." Ms Tayl-My mom looked up at me, shocked. "What kind of experiments?"

I looked over at Chloe, hoping she would agree with my decision. She nodded at me and rolled her shoulders back. Even though she didn't say a word, I understood. I wriggled out of my mom's embrace. She tried to grab me back but I shook my head and silently mouthed 'wait'. I opened my wings to their full extent, the tip of one just touching a wall. My mom stood up and slowly her fingers against my brown plumage. She grabbed me back into a hug.

The hug felt so warm, so real and so safe but I had to make sure. Just in case.

"Y-you don't think I'm a freak then?" I whispered

"I think you are my daughter and I love you. And that's all that matters to me."

"So, you just think you love me?" I joked. Mom just laughed and squeezed me tighter. We stood there for what must have been several minutes, but it could have easily been a few seconds.

"Nudge," We both turned and looked at the speaker. Chloe stood in the corner near a bookshelf. "You'll look after your mum for me?" I nodded, powerless to speak. "Good." She picked up a book from the shelf. "Ms Taylor, I know I don't have my library card with me but, can I borrow this book?" My mom had a hand over her mouth and a mixture of hope disbelief swirled around in her eyes. Slowly she nodded like I had done.

"Thank you." Chloe beamed at us before walking straight towards, and then through, a wall. Both mom and me collapsed to the ground, crying and holding each other, neither of us entirety sure why.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

**okay, I know I kind of rushed all of that out in one chapter, but I really couldn't think of anywhere to split it up into two. How many of you guessed about Ms Taylor and Chloe? I certainly didn't guess Ms Taylor until after I had written it. **

**I won't post the next chapter until I get one review. Actually, scratch that, you don't have to review if you don't have time. It would be nice to have one more though. Anyway I'll either post the next chapter tomorrow or Sunday.**

**x**

**filkcatwearingabell  
**


	4. Graveyards

**hi! This is it, the final chapter. I would like to thank braye27 who gave me such great reviews and hoped the rest of you enjoyed it too.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride but Chloe's all mine.  
**

** Enjoy :)  
**

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

**Graveyards**

That was the last time I saw Chloe.

It's been two years since then. I decided to stay with mom and live in England. It would have been too hard for her to leave the library, and Chloe's grave, behind to go to America.

A few days later I went Chloe's house. I found the chair, still in its same place thankfully, and put a bottle of coke, a Cadbury chocolate bar and a packet of crisps to the side of it, under a bush. I returned the next day. The food and Coke had gone. Anything could have got it. Except the book Chloe had borrowed the week before was lying where I had put the stuff. I opened it and inside, in neat handwriting, it one word; '_thanks'. _

I went back to America to find the Flock and tell them about my mom. I quickly found them. When Max got to me she hugged me so tightly and then yelled her head off at me for leaving, before hugging me again. Fang's 'Mission' had failed and he'd come back, making Max so much more co-operative.

We've all gone our separate ways, sought of. Max and Fang have gone off together to continue to save the world. Angel and Gazzy are living with Max's mom - Ms Martinez - and had started home education with Ella's help. Iggy had decided to come back to England with me to live with mom and me. He had said he wanted to go to a library more often.

Now the two of us, Iggy and me (mom was at work), stood in front of a grave, hand in hand, in the local graveyard. "Whose grave is it?" He asked.

"Someone I met when I first came here." He nodded. The wind blew and a chill went through my body. Iggy felt me shiver and put his arms around me, pulling me close. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"When did they die?"

"The year before I arrived." He looked at me with a funny expression. We started to walk away, Iggy keeping me close for both his and mine benefit.

"What was their name?"

"Chloe Williams and she died far too young." My voice broke whilst I spoke. Iggy gasped and his sightless eyes widened. I tapped the back of his hand twice, our signal for 'what's wrong'. "I met her, About a week after you left. She came and sat next to me on some random bench and asked me to tell her my story."

"Did you tell her?"

"Yeah, but just to see how she would react. She disappeared into thin air once I finished though. Did you tell her your story?"

"Yeah, I did." I wasn't in the mood for some long winded speech of what happened. I glanced at a tree on the other side of the graveyard. A small person in dark clothing sat, crouched up underneath it, staring out at all the gravestones. The person hadn't noticed us yet.

I whispered to Iggy what I had seen and we navigated our way through the gravestone maze until we were stood behind the person. We stood there, still hand in hand, for a few minutes. Finally I opened my mouth. "Tell us your story."

The person turned their head and their dark green hood fell back to reveal Chloe's smiling face.

"It would be my pleasure."

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/

**Well that's it. Finite. I hope you all enjoyed it. I had an idea to write a short sequel about Chloe and Iggy. What d'you think?**

**x**

**filkcatwearingabell  
**


End file.
